Plan calls for 2,250 homes at site near Joliet

A developer wants to turn 946 acres into a largely residential development in a rural area south of Interstate Highway 80.

The area consists of land that Joliet officials planned to make a commercial and industrial corridor.

Pasquinelli Development Group Inc., based in Willowbrook, has a plan that calls for setting aside 45 acres for commercial uses and building up to 2,250 housing units.

The plan includes the area along Illinois Highway 53 bounded by two auto racing facilities on the north; Noel Road, near the former Joliet Arsenal, on the south; the Union Pacific Railroad on the west; and near Rowell Avenue on the east.

The Plan Commission has scheduled a public hearing on the project at 4 p.m. Thursday in Joliet City Hall. The owners of 15 parcels, which the developer plans to buy, are seeking annexation into Joliet.

In 2000, city officials announced an effort to start a commercial and industrial corridor along a 5-mile stretch of Illinois 53 near the 2,000-acre industrial park being built in the former arsenal and near the Midewin National Tall Grass Prairie.

Pasquinelli's project would be the largest in land size in Joliet since 1999, when the city annexed 930 acres for the NASCAR racetrack that would be near the new housing. The track, which opened in 2001, and a drag strip, which opened in 1998, are at Illinois 53 and Schweitzer Road.

The city already has a growing residential corridor along Caton Farm Road. The Pasquinelli development could produce a second corridor, said James Haller, director of community and economic development.

"This probably could feed off the residential growth that is occurring in New Lenox, Manhattan and Elwood," he said of communities near the project area.

The Pasquinelli project would be near the industrial park in Elwood, where 8,000 permanent jobs could be created in the next decade. Other nearby industrial uses include a distribution center for Dollar Tree Stores Inc. that the company plans to open in Joliet this month.

The Pasquinelli group proposes building 1,510 single-family homes, 640 town homes and 100 duplexes, said city planner Jan Vitali. The company is seeking a general business zoning designation for land at two intersections along Illinois 53, she said.

The development would be in Joliet Township High School District 204 and in parts of the Elwood and Laraway elementary school districts.

The project would be subject to the school building impact fee that the City Council recently adopted, Vitali said.

Planners still have to determine how much land the developer must set aside to meet the city ordinance governing park and school site contributions, Vitali said. Because of those contributions, it is doubtful that all 2,250 housing units would be built, Haller said.